Each morning Finley, my grand-dog, and I take a walk. We head east for a little over a mile circling the neighborhood, checking out houses, remarking on landscaping (or lack of), and greeting other early risers. Most mornings we see the sun come up, listen to chirping birds and get free strokes (Finley, not me) from the elementary children as they go to school.

In the afternoon we head westward, doing the same loop in the opposite direction. The sounds, views, and kids are less exciting, although Finley enjoys terrorizing the ducks.

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How are you doing? No really, how are you? I ask because as I talk with people, young and old, worry, fear, and just all-around concern seem pervasive. Between the horrific situation in Ukraine, rising gas prices, increasing inflation, crazy outbursts, personal family issues, and the residual effects of the pandemic, it feels as though we are at a tipping point. Will things continue to get worse? Will they turn around? Is there light at the end of this tunnel?

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Think small. These words are the antithesis of our world today. Shouldn’t we think BIG? Shouldn’t we be influencers with tens of thousands of followers? I mean really, if we are gonna do anything, shouldn’t we go for the gusto?

Well, maybe, but, more often than not, it’s probably more fruitful to go the old fashion route. Start where you are, do the slow patient labor of one task, one person, one focus as you form relationships, grow your family, build a career, and live life.

Take a few minutes to reflect back on the people who made a difference in your life. For me, my most profound memories are of family and friends who raised me, taught me, mentored me, and most importantly, rolled up their sleeves and hung with me when it was tedious, boring, and no reward was in sight.

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I was at the gym the other day and heard the following lyrics in a Hip Hop song,

“I try to be everything that I can
But sometimes I come out as bein' nothin'”

In our world of anything and everything, I think maybe we are ending up, more often than not, with nothing. Many of us have so much. In fact, we have everything; we do everything; we “are” everything and yet it just isn’t enough. We take good things and sprinkle them with the illusion that more is always better. We seek bigger, better, faster, and wonder why we are exhausted.

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Happy new year! I hope your Christmas was truly a time of joy. I marvel at the excitement we have, regardless of our age, for the holidays and the “something special” of Christmas. We, as Christians, know that the true something special is the reconciliation, peace, and hope that baby Jesus gifted us that first Christmas.

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It's official! The holidays are here.

As of today, Thanksgiving, leftover turkey, and Black Friday are distant memories. Thanksgiving at the Shrader house was a time of family, many, many blessings, and too much food. Although Thanksgiving and Tom’s November birthday are bittersweet reminders of how much we miss Tom, God continues to love, bless, and guide us as His children. All Praise be to God!

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Can you believe it is November already? It seems as if November came immediately after the longest summer ever. And, well, now Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day and commotion, expectations, and stress!

Oops, I am getting ahead of myself.

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Tom loved to teach. Even in his last few months, when he could hardly walk and mostly slept through the day, Tom looked forward to teaching Priority Living or the occasional Sunday. As Tom walked up to the podium to share God’s word, he would transform into a younger man and his pain became nearly non-existent. Teaching God’s word put him on the mountain top and, oh, how God used Tom in extraordinary ways!

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How long has it been since you shook up your daily routines?

Tom was a creature of habit. He liked to do the same thing over and over again. He would wake up and have a set routine each day, each week, each season. Tom called it “mastering the mundane”.

Routines take the guesswork away. Routines are good. Routines get us into a groove and simplify our lives. Routines keep us in our comfortable, happy space.

When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone?

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Tom and I were opposites in many ways.

For example, when Tom wasn’t teaching, he was the KING of doing nothing. He really, truly could do NOTHING for days on end. Tom was perfectly content with no agenda or schedule. Tom always said he didn’t do anything in moderation. He was right. When Tom rested, he was ALL in.

On the other hand, I am not good at rest. When I was little, I despised taking naps. Being the youngest of four in a family that was always on the move, I was convinced that while I was resting my siblings were having the time of their lives! Silly, right?

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Happy 4th of July! I’ve been in Arizona for 15 years and it still seems surreal that humans can actually live in the desert, especially when temps surpass 115 degrees before July 1. Thank goodness for air conditioning, siestas and fudgesicles.

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My grand-dog, Finley, isn’t too bright.

Three months ago, I installed a doggy door. Although Finley goes in and out the doggy door quite a few times each day, he won’t go in or out without my prompting. In my mind, the purpose of the doggy door is for Finley to go inside or outside whenever he wants. In Finley’s mind, not so. Finley sits at the door and whines until I give the command “Finley–Inside!” or “Finley-Outside!” and more often than not, he waits to see me on the other side of the doggie door before he will go through.

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Tom used to say that he really knew how to do nothing. It wasn’t that Tom was lazy, but rather that he excelled at doing NOTHING. Tom could, for days at a time, do nothing. Really. This is not hyperbole. Tom had a gift for this. And you know what? God used that gift in way that was extraordinary for you and me.

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This Easter as we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death, I am reminded of past Easters growing up in the Midwest. For me, Easter marked the end of the winter thaw, or more positively, the beginning of Spring. Even if there still was snow on the ground or blustery weather, Easter brought hope of a new season - a season of flowers, sunshine, and warmth.

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Last week Serena Williams lost to Naomi Osaka in the semifinals of the Australia Open. In and of itself, this is not extraordinary news. Simply noting the ages of the players – Osaka, 23 and Williams, 39 – Osaka was favored for the win. Yet, Williams is tough and an amazing athlete by all standards - why let a thing like age get in the way of a win? Here’s what is extraordinary – Williams lost and summed up the competition in this way, “It was a big error day for me today.”

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I’ve been reminded of this quote from Tom a lot lately, likely because there just seems to be a whole bunch of people out there that are not happy these days. I am not going to even begin to extrapolate “why”, but I am sure it has to do with this extended period of social distancing, masks, politics, social tensions, remote working, and the general malaise that most of us feel after months and months of stress and disruption.

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Happy New Year! Several years ago, for our anniversary, Tom and I went to our favorite steakhouse to commemorate God’s blessings in our marriage. As we sat down, the waitress said, “Are we celebrating a special occasion?” Tom responded, “I’ll have iced tea.” After she walked away, Tom remarked how unfriendly she had been. You see, at that particular point in time, Tom’s hearing was almost non-existent. Unable to hear, Tom filled in the script with his own version of what was happening. Yet, the reality was very different. As I did my best to explain what had happened, (Tom couldn’t hear me either – LOL) we had a good laugh.

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The holiday season is here! For our family, the kickoff is turkey, stuffing, and way too much food. The following days are full of Christmas decorations, hot cocoa, peppermint, chocolate chip cookies, pine fragrance, and eventually an extra-special day that begins with BOSA donuts, Velveeta cheese queso, ballpark pretzels, Sonic burgers, and junk food – LOTS of junk food -- November 28 --Tom's birthday.

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It is time to get back to the basics. As a former kindergarten teacher, I am a huge proponent of fundamentals – the ABC’s, basic math, please and thank you. John Wooden wrote, “I believe in the basics: attention to, and perfection of, tiny details that might be overlooked. They may seem trivial, perhaps even laughable to those who do not understand, but they aren’t. They are fundamental to your progress in basketball, business and life.”

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Tom Shrader was in Virginia that day, having spoken to a convention of executives in New York City earlier that week.

He was like millions of other Americans when he heard that an airplane hit a building.

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